About 2,000 years ago there lived a young woman named Mary. She lived in the small town of Nazareth in what is now the country of Israel. At the time it was part of the Roman Empire.

She wasn’t married, but she was engaged to a man named Joseph. They were planning on getting married!

One night, while Mary was sleeping, an angel visited her with a special message. At that time they didn’t have a Bible like we do. God sent His messages through people and angels instead.

The angel that visited Mary was named Gabriel. God had a special message for Mary.

He said, “You are favored by the Lord! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28 NLT)

Mary was frightened by the angel and didn’t understand what was going on. So the angel told her more.

“Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor  with God. You will become pregnant, give birth to a son, and name him Jesus.

He will be a great man and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him

the throne of his ancestor David.

Your son will be king of Jacob’s people forever, and his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33 NLT)

Mary asked Gabriel how she could have a baby when she was a virgin and had never been married. The angel told her that the Holy Spirit would make it happen.

He said that Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was going to have a son too even though she was old and past the age that women had babies. It was a miracle from God!

An angel had also visited Elizabeth and Zechariah earlier. The angel told them that they would have a special son named John who would tell people about Jesus.

Mary trusted God and said that she would serve Him. Then she went on a trip to see her cousin Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah.

Mary stayed with Elizabeth and Zechariah for 3 months. They knew that Mary was going to have God’s son, Jesus and they were very excited for her. The Bible even says that the baby inside Elizabeth jumped for joy!

After 3 months, Mary returned to Nazareth. At this time, Joseph was thinking about not marrying Mary since she was pregnant and he knew he was not the father of her baby.

However, an angel came to Joseph at night too! The angel of the Lord said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

So Joseph did as the angel told him. He married Mary.

But they had to soon go on a trip. The emporer of the Roman Empire, Ceasar Augustus wanted a list of all the people in his empire because he wanted to make sure everyone paid taxes.

That is called a census.

So everyone had to go to the town that their family first came from. That meant Joseph and Mary had to travel 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

They didn’t have cars or even bicycles back then! They had to walk or ride on donkeys. It took them a long time to get to Bethlehem.

Once they were in Bethlehem, they had a hard time finding a place to stay. The town was full of people who had come for the census.

All the guest rooms and inns were full. Mary and Joseph needed a place to stay because Mary was about to have her baby.

They finally stopped at one inn where the innkeeper said they could stay in the stable where the animals were kept.

That night Jesus was born right next to the animals!

The Bible says that Mary wrapped baby Jesus up in swaddling clothes. That meant she wrapped him up so that he wouldn’t get cold and he was very cozy.

Then she laid him in a manger. A manger is a feeding trough for the animals. Jesus didn’t have a crib, but he probably lay on hay.

That same night something else exciting happened! There were shepherds watching their flocks of sheep out on a hillside near Bethlehem and an angel appeared to them.

The Bible says that the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were scared.

But the angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Then all of a sudden a great host of angels appeared along side the first angel and they all said together, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14 NLT)

Then the angels left the shepherds and immediately the shepherds went into the town of Bethlehem to find Jesus.

They visited Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in the stable and then they spread the news that Jesus was born! Everyone was amazed at what the shepherds told them.

After sharing the news of Jesus with others, they returned to watching their sheep and praised God for all the things that He had done.

When Jesus was still a little baby, they brought him to the temple where two special people met him. A man named Simeon had been told by God that he wouldn’t die until he had seen Jesus the Messiah.

When he saw Mary, Jospeh, and Jesus, he blessed them and praised God.

Another special person at the temple was a woman named Anna. She had dedicated her life to God, and when she saw Jesus, she gave thanks to God.

Something else special had happened when Jesus was born. A bright star appeared in the sky that had never been there before.

There were men called Magi that came from far away in the East to see Jesus. When they saw the star in the sky, they followed it all the way to Jerusalem. This was a couple of years after Jesus was born.

When they got to Jerusalem, they asked King Herod, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

King Herod was not happy with this news. He was afraid that Jesus would take his place. So he told the Magi to go find the baby and then come back and tell him where Jesus was so he could worship him too.

But King Herod was lying. He didn’t really want to worship Jesus.

The Magi followed the star to the exact home that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were living in.

The Magi were so happy to find Jesus! When they got to the home, they bowed down and worshiped Jesus.

Then they gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. While they were there, they were warned by God through a dream not to go back to King Herod. Instead they went home a different way.

After they left, King Herod found out that the Magi weren’t coming back to him and he was very mad. He wanted to kill Jesus!

But God warned Joseph in a dream that he needed to leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt so that Jesus would be safe.

They stayed in Egypt until King Herod died. Then when it was safe they returned to Nazareth.